Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a two-day official visit to China on May 19-20, where he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Kremlin announced. According to the official statement, the visit comes at the invitation of Xi Jinping and talks on strengthening bilateral cooperation between Russia and China are expected during the visit.

The focus of the meetings will be economic, political and strategic relations, while the signing of a series of cooperation documents is expected after the talks.

Putin's visit comes at a time when international attention is focused on diplomatic developments between the major powers, following a recent visit by US President Donald Trump to China, where he declared that "major economic agreements" had been reached. The Putin-Xi meeting is expected to further deepen relations between Moscow and Beijing, which have strengthened significantly in several strategic areas in recent years.